Her toes, her feet

Today's inspiring message goes: "Be mindful of the little things in life."

A sentence like that reminded me of the photos I took of The Wee One yesterday. The idea of having her pose this way isn't novel; other photographers have done variations on this theme of small feet and toes.

It takes some skill to persuade a restless three year old to pause for a few seconds with a shawl covering her legs so the adult can take some snapshots. She'd rather play with the slowly unraveling piece of cloth. Makes me feel she's the one indulging me.

Her wiggling toes create a nice blur.

Photos by Babeth Lolarga

Doodling along

Our little Picasso (chuck it up to this doting grandma) is making bigger strokes on her white board and never fails to call my attention when she's done.

A few days ago, Kai (formerly Butones) said she was going to make a one-color rainbow, and she did. I'd rather call it a "redbow."

Happy with her take on the rainbow

Early today, she just asked for "Black marker, please" and proceeded to work quietly. Afterwards, there was her familiar cry of "Look!"

Not camera-shy, just doing her usual funny face for the camera while showing off her drawing for the day

Close-up of her "figurative abstract." This viewer sees two-in-one human-like faces, complete with hair, eyes, nose, lips. Photos by Booboo

The pool is a happy place

The wee one showed us why during a day trip to sunny and warm Asin, Benguet. She also showed how a few small steps and nano-seconds of sliding can be a leap and splash of faith.


Photos by Booboo

Time to be silly happy

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

What's your greatest regret so far, and what will you set out to achieve or change before you die?
- from Susie Steiner's article "Top five regrets of the dying" from www.theguardian.com

It's one of those things to remember as I respond to hillside family duties--to allow room for joy apart from fulfilling a list of must-do's.

I only have to look at the youngest family member's great attitude towards each morning she wakes to. Then I realize how curiosity about the world and an attitude of openness to whatever often lead to most welcome silliness, quickly followed by laughing times. Refreshing breaks, indeed. Leaves me sufficiently recharged. Meanwhile, the storage space in that inner room expands.

Welcome, Weekend! You're better than five working days of shoulda, coulda, woulda. Butones and I decided to advance you by a day.

It's a gift, a grace just to waken to another morning like this with the button of my life for company. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Jump shots

"Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward." -Victor Kiam

Big shadow and little person warming up for their morning walk, each keeping their distance from each other.

And she's off while her papparazza gives chase.

Upon Booboo's suggestion, Butones does a quick study of some low rocks set in an irregular circle before practicing her jumps.

The second or third of the jumps captured and preserved

Here's another!

She finishes the first go and prepares for her once-around

At about this time, she's shouting, "Booboo, follow!"

Pretty confident, huh?

Energy's still up. Following the jumps was a walk on a flat road, then a climb up stone steps, then down in another part of the neighborhood. Then home again! Photos by Booboo

Begin again

“We can always begin again. No matter what happens, no matter how long it's been, no matter how far from our aspirations we may have strayed, we can always always begin again.”—Sharon Salzberg, meditation teacher

The kid with the cute-as-a-button nose and eyes larger than buttons was worried that I was lagging behind during the climb out of a forest. I had paused to pull out the trusty digicam to record her solo, unassisted climb up with Merci Javier Dulawan leading the way. I caught her clutching her little bag of spare clothes at that moment when she was calculating how far forward her Tita Merci was, how far behind I was.

The Salzberg quote is more a reminder to myself not to lose heart in heartfelt undertakings when there are setbacks, delays or signs of uncooperative inner weather. The reminder says: pause, catch your breath, then carry on.

They say the soul's trajectory is ever upward. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Some things just are

"Not everything has to have a point. Some things just are." - Judy Blume

Like my latest fascination for people's shadows or how these appear at certain times of the day. Sun's appearance is required.

The Button and her Booboo cast two shadows, small and triple X. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Keep calm and stay beautiful

"Cuddle with me." - from Keep Calm Tweets

The Keep Calm posters have been everywhere in the past year, even at the Wimbledon Games, e.g., "Keep calm and eat strawberries with cream," and more delights that kept me riveted as much as the final women's singles game between Bartoli and Lisicki.

Earlier in this new year, I've seen "Keep Calm. 2014 will be awesome" popping up all over the Web.

Wherever I am, nothing reassures me more than the new knowledge I acquired from seeing one too many "Keep Calm" reminders that by keeping calm, all will be well. Keep calm, Butones, and remember to turn your head towards the Light.

Love, the Booboo

The Button at Baguio's Chaya Restaurant calmly waits for her order sometime in 2013. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Don't forget to have fun

"You will be the broken world and the act of changing it, in a way that you haven’t been before. You will be so many things, and the one thing that I wish I’d known and want to say is, don’t just be yourself. Be all of yourselves. Don’t just live. Be that other thing connected to death. Be life. Live all of your life. Understand it, see it, appreciate it. And have fun."- actor Joss Whedon, who delivered the 2013 Wesleyan commencement address

The Butones and her Booboo had our second to the last walk to close the holidays early yesterday. It was just a half our of a 24-hour cycle before we sat down for "breaky" of Butones' favorite champorado made from scratch with fried dried fish on the sides (thanks, Mack!) and returned to our respective Monday routines--she to play some more, I to work (a form of play if you like what you're doing).

When the sun is up today and it's warm enough, we will have another walk, my one for the road before I sing "Hit the Road, Jack" and resume a life elsewhere. She's staying behind to squeeze all the fun possible out of being a terrific two year old. Many things I wanna pass on to her, but we'll have time for those pauses in the future. Meanwhile, we have all of this day to be ourselves and to have fun.

Thought balloon: How do I get this to swing by itself? Does someone have to drop a coin somewhere to make it move. Aha! Booboo, push!

Times of your life moment. Snap! Photos by Babeth Lolarga